Chancellor announces retirement

In a letter to senior staff this week, Professor Bashir said it had been a privilege to work with two vice-chancellors, Dr Michael Spence and the late Professor Gavin Brown.

Professor Bashir has had a long association with the University and made an enormous contribution to it since her days as a pioneering student and academic.

Professor Bashir gained her bachelor's degrees in medicine and surgery in 1956 from the University of Sydney. She taught at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales, increasingly working with children's services, psychiatry and mental health services, and health programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Her widespread interests have included juvenile justice, research on adolescent depression, health issues in developing countries, education for health professionals and telemedicine, and new technologies for health service delivery.

She was appointed clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Sydney in 1993, area director of mental health services in central Sydney from 1994, and senior consultant to the Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern from 1996.

Professor Bashir was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1988 for her services to child and adolescent health, and subsequently made a Companion of the Order (AC) in 2001. She was invested with the insignia of a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 2006.

She was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine by the University in 2002 at the ceremony to mark the University's sesquicentenary.

In March 2001 Professor Bashir became the first woman to have been appointed Governor of New South Wales. Her term as governor will conclude early in 2014.